Nneka Egbuna is a famous and talented Nigerian singer, songwriter, actress, and humanitarian. She is known for singing in English, Igbo and Pidgin languages.
She was born on December 24, 1980. She grew up in Warri, Delta State in south southern Nigeria. Her father is a Nigerian and her mother, a German national.
Nneka’s Educational Background
Nneka relocated to Hamburg, Germany in 1999 where she studied Anthropology in the University. She subsequently began performing in the underground dancehall scene in order to finance her education.
Nneka’s Music Career
Nneka made her entry into the music scene in 2004 while performing as an opening act for dancehall reggae star, Sean Paul at Hamburg Stadtpark.
She released her debut EP, ‘The Uncomfortable Truth’ and thereafter embarked on her first tour in April 2005, performing at various shows in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
In 2005, Nneka’s debut album, ‘Victim of Truth’, was released. The album was a huge success selling millions of copies across Europe, Nigeria and Japan.
The album also garnered rave reviews from the media, as the UK’s Sunday Times later declared ‘Victim of Truth’ “the year’s most criminally overlooked album”. Despite universal acclaim, the record did not chart.
Nneka has a good number of hit albums and singles to her credit, some of which are:
• 2010: Concrete Jungle
• 2012: Soul Is Heav –
• 2015: My Fairy
• Tales
• 008: “Walking”
• 2009: “Kangpe”
• 2012: “Shining Star”
• 2012: “Soul is Heavy”
• 2012: “My Home”
• 2013: “Shining” – South Africa and others.
The talented music star however enjoyed a sustained and successful period of touring, performing with label-mate Patrice Bart-Williams. During her tour, she played at Chiemsee Reggae Summer, Haarlem (Bevrijdings Festival), The Hague (Park Pop) and Saint-Brieuc (Art Rock Festival).
Nneka also performed at various respected venues like La Maroquinerie and New Morning in Paris, Tivoli in Utrecht, Paradiso in Amsterdam, and Cargo and ULU in London.
She has also supported talented artistes in the likes of Femi Kuti, Bilal, and Gnarls Barkley.
In February 2008, Nneka released her second album, ‘No Longer at Ease’, a title wisely derived from a novel written by the late renowned Nigerian author, Chinua Achebe. It was widely acclaimed as it reflects the lyrical content of the record with a combination of political, social and economic issues with “a winning mix of soul, hip-hop and reggae”.
The lead single from the record, “Heartbeat”, became Nneka’s first song to break into the German Top 50.
In September 2009, the song entered the UK Singles Chart at no. 20. “Heartbeat” has since been remixed several times, most notably by Chase & Status, was sampled by Rita Ora for her chart-topping single, “R.I.P.”.
Nneka also toured France, Italy and Portugal, while she also supported Lenny Kravitz on his French tour in April 2009.
In late 2009, she was chosen as of one Beyond Race Magazine’s “50 Emerging Artists”, resulting in a spot in the publication’s No. 11.
In November 2009, Nneka began her first concert tour of the United States, where she performed shows in New York City, Vienna (Washington DC), Boston, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
Her track “Kangpe” is also featured as a soundtrack on EA Sports video game, FIFA 10.
She participated in the 2010 Lilith Fair Concert, where great artistes like Tegan & Sara, Sarah McLachlan, Kelly Clarkson, Jill Scott, Erykah Badu, Corinne Bailey Rae, Mary J. Blige, Rihanna performed.
Nneka recorded a song for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa called “Viva Africa”; the song is a tribute to the premier Mundial on African soil.
Nneka is also a good actress. She made an appearance on the Nigerian drama film, ‘Relentless’, co-produced and directed by Andy Amadi Okoroafor. The movie was released on October 13, 2010 at the BFI London Film Festival. The movie also featured Gideon Okeke, Halle Mordu, Jimmy Jean-Louis and Tope Oshin Ogun.
She has done a good number of impressive movies including:
• Lake of Fire (2004)
• Offside (2005)
• Relentless (2010)
• Drexciya (2012)
• Fifty (2015)
Awards and Nominations
Nneka Egbunawas nominated for several awards and won some. She was nominated in three categories for the 2009 Channel O Music Video Awards, and won an award for Best African Act at the 2009 MOBO Awards.
In 2010, Nneka won the award for best indigenous artist in Nigeria at the Nigerian Entertainment Awards, which was held in New York.
Nneka also won the NEA award for best international artist several times.
Her Role Models
Nneka cites renowned artistes like Bob Marley, Fela Kuti as well as contemporary rappers Mos Def, Talib Kweli, and Lauryn Hill as her role models who impacted positively in her music career.
Her lyrics reflect much of her history and life in Nigeria as well as her time spent in Europe countries, revolving majorly on issues of capitalism, poverty and war.
Her Humanitarian Work
Nneka is also a humanitarian. She co-founded the Rope foundation in 2012 alongside Ahmed “Genda” Nyei. The Rope Foundation serves as a platform for young men and women to express themselves through art.
The platform also focuses essentially on charity and working with sexually abused women especially in war torn countries of the world with its headquarters in the Bo Town region of Sierra Leone.
Nneka’s Personal Life
Nneka’s marital status is not known. She is believed to be in a relationship which has not received public attention.
Nneka Egbuna’s Net Worth
Nneka Egbuna is a superstar in the music world, rated one of the richest and most influential with an estimated net worth of about $3 million dollars.
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